Die Essays des Kulturhistorikers Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer Professor in Harvard und Direktor der Universitätsbibliothek dortselbst, sind immer wieder erfrischend in ihren Zugängen und Schlüssen aus der Verbindung von Historie und Moderne. In der „The New York review of Books“ erschien nun ein via Internet zugänglicher äußerst lesenswerter und nachdenklicher Text über „Google & the Future of Books“,
How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright. For the last four years, Google has been digitizing millions of books, including many covered by copyright, from the collections of major research libraries, and making the texts searchable online. The authors and publishers objected that digitizing constituted a violation of their copyrights. After lengthy negotiations, the plaintiffs and Google agreed on a settlement, which will have a profound effect on the way books reach readers for the foreseeable future. What will that future be?
[…]
Yet this is also a tipping point in the development of what we call the information society. If we get the balance wrong at this moment, private interests may outweigh the public good for the foreseeable future, and the Enlightenment dream may be as elusive as ever.
Der ganze Artikel: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22281
Über Robert Darnton: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Darnton
http://hul.harvard.edu/news/2007_0522.html
Dazu auch neuderdings: Jenseits der Aufklärung: Robert Darnton betrachtet Google Books